It's the first year we blanketed our horses all winter. I don't know what is the right time to take their blankets off. I don't want it to be really cold one day, because my horse is a chincoteague pony and from being on the cold island she can grow her winter coat in a matter of a day instead of weeks, and her winter coat to puff out in the middle of showing in april. When is the right time to take their blankets off completly?

How cold does it get there? Cause really we shouldnt blanket horses unless there shivering constantly,sick,under weight... if you blanket them to soon their hair wont grow and also when there cold there hair stands up to keep the heat in and when the blanket is on they can't do that

^^ Agreed. If your horse doesn't need a blanket they shouldn't have one.
I actually don't put blankets on my horses until it gets below minus 20 (canada terms lol) and only if they are shivering.
Right now my Arab is the only one of my girls that needs one. My Fjord mare can stand out in minus 35 and her tail doesn't even shiver so I don't bother putting one on her.

It's also a good idea (though I know it's an incredible pain) to check the weather charts regularly & only put the blanket on when the temperatures are going to dip down & then take it off again so that the hair can still stand up naturally.

My gelding was skinny at the beginning of winter, which is why I blanketed him, although I would have rather not. He is now at an adequate weight but doesn't have the winter coat he needs, so I have to keep him blanketed more often than I'd like. I take the blanket off on sunny days, because he will literally start sweating when the sun is beaming down on him and getting "soaked up" in the blanket, even if it's cold out. If you stick your hand under your horse's blanket down by their chest or up on their shoulders, you can feel their temperature under the blanket and see if they are too warm, or if they're "just right".

how cold does it get there? Cause really we shouldnt blanket horses unless there shivering constantly,sick,under weight... if you blanket them to soon their hair wont grow and also when there cold there hair stands up to keep the heat in and when the blanket is on they can't do that

This is all mostly true, but it's really not going to hurt the horse if he or she is appropriately blanketed (so not sweaty, ever, etc) and they perfectly healthy. There is nothing wrong with blanketing, as long as you do it properly, ie heavyweight blanket when it's REALLY cold, medium when it's sorta cold, light weight when it's not too bad and doubling up if it's extremely extremely cold.
Also, the blanket doesn't stop the hair from growing, it just slicks it down and makes it look less long. It's the amount of light the horse receives during the winter that determine how much winter coat grows in. So, a horse in natural light, even blanketed, will grow a full winter coat under the blanket, the hair will just be laid down and appear short. If that same horse is under lights all winter, he or she may not grow any extra coat at all if it gets a full 12 hours of light a day.

And, the thing with the hair laying down is why you want to blanket appropriately. You are making up for their hair laying down by blanketing them, so it's a terrible idea to put a lightweight, no fill, blanket on a horse in thirty degree (F) weather because you've just laid down the hair and not added any warmth. But a medium weight blanket would be just fine to put on in thirty degree weather since the blanket has enough fill to replace the lost hair mass.

Hopefully that all makes sense. :)

To the OP: When it's above 45 degrees (F) and sunny while being about 35 at night, I take my mare's blanket off. But, as soon as it drops below that, or it gets rainy/windy, her blanket goes right back on.
Once the real spring hits and she starts shedding, I generally take her blanket off and leave it off. However, I will still put it on if the temperature drops below 40 or if it starts raining cold rain.
Hopefully that helps answer your question. :)

Personaly my young pony was rugged up to the eyeballs at the slightest hint of a drop in temperature. This was because no way on earth was I sending a freshly clipped horse for breaking, he is sharp enough as it is, I needed the fine coat on him for the winter shows so I preserved his summer coat. It was a choice between clipping or preserving!
It did mean that he has had to be heavily rugged all winter though and will continue to be until summer.

Pride and harvey my 2 old boys were rugged up when it realy started to get cold, they grew massive coats but as they are very old I rugged them too. They will e rugged untill the weather gets to be in doubloe positive numers!

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Horse Forum forums, you must first register.

Already have a Horse Forum account?
Members are allowed only one account per person at the Horse Forum, so if you've made an account here in the past you'll need to continue using that account. Please do not create a new account or you may lose access to the Horse Forum. If you need help recovering your existing account, please Contact Us. We'll be glad to help!

New to the Horse Forum?Please choose a username you will be satisfied with using for the duration of your membership at the Horse Forum. We do not change members' usernames upon request because that would make it difficult for everyone to keep track of who is who on the forum. For that reason, please do not incorporate your horse's name into your username so that you are not stuck with a username related to a horse you may no longer have some day, or use any other username you may no longer identify with or care for in the future.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Old Thread Warning

This thread is more than 90 days old. When a thread is this old, it is often better to start a new thread rather than post to it. However, If you feel you have something of value to add to this particular thread, you can do so by checking the box below before submitting your post.I am aware that this is an old thread and I want to revive it rather than starting a new thread.